Whether it's a veteran computer scientist pursuing success with a start-up company, a DIY-inclined family wanting to take advantage of the equipment and expertise of the other members or someone just wanting the satisfaction of teaching someone else a new skill, Longmont's TinkerMill draws a variety of members. Here are just three examples:

Dixon Dick

A veteran of more than three decades as a computer scientist, Dixon Dick is part of a start-up at TinkerMill called Piccolabs.

Dick has teamed with Scott Converse, the founder and president of TinkerMill, and another member to form the company, which is developing compact, ultra-low-power and secure data centers.

"The problem I wanted to solve is to get all of my (data) in one place and have control over it," Dick said. "If you put it in the cloud you've published it."

The prototypes Dick has in the office he rents within the TinkerMill space are about the size of a shoebox or even smaller. They can act as stand-alone data centers, capable of delivering the same power and functionality as much bigger units, or they can "network with other ('piccopods') to create a much larger system that is totally secure and infinitely expandable," Converse said.

Added Dick, "It's not that we're reinventing each of the components. We're repackaging them into a super-low-power system."

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Dick said he hopes to put the miniature data centers on the market in about six months — "investors welcome," he said — and is striving to have them priced at below $100. He thinks the networking aspect of the machines will be particularly effective within the city of Longmont, given the super-fast uploads and download speeds that will be afforded by access to the city's fiber optic network.

"One of the reasons we started this is we know Longmont is going to turn into this gigabit city," Dick said.

And as it stands now, he's very pleased to have found TinkerMill, he said.

"I can only think of building something like that in a place like this," Dick said. "(Being surrounded by) technology people who have almost any skill we could need."

The New family

The New family are in their second month of membership at TinkerMill, and already they've become some of the more active members, according to Converse.

"We try to take a lot of the classes," said mom, Kris. "Most of them, to see what we like."

She, son David, 12, and daughter Charlotte, 16, tend to go to TinkerMill about twice a week, Kris New said. (The family membership means that her husband, Graham, also has access the the facility.)

Kris said they discovered TinkerMill by accident.

"We went to a movie, we saw them there set up next to the movie theater at Twin Peaks (Mall)," Kris New said. "I thought it was neat so I just started poking around and asking questions."

She said the concept of a "makerspace" fits right in with her and her kids' lifestyle.

"We just try to make things," New said. "We see something we want and we try to figure out how to make it."

The 3D print classes were particularly interesting, David New said.

"We didn't know how to use them, and exactly how they worked," he said.

David and Charlotte came up with the idea to make swords — real ones — forged out of steel. When they tossed out the idea one of the other members said he had a friend who has a forge, so he brought that forge to TinkerMill and the New children are on their way to having homemade swords.

Meanwhile, Kris New has a project of her own she's working on.

"I've got chickens and I want an automatic chicken door and I thought it would be fun to make it," she said.

"You buy it online and it's about $200," David New said. "You make it here and it's about $11."

At 12, David New is the youngest member of TinkerMill. He said he has found the other members "very welcoming" and would recommend any other school-age student come and check the place out.

Poepping (Matthew Jonas / Longmont Times-Call)

"I think so, because it's really run and a creative way to let your mind flow," he said.

Matt Poepping

Poepping has become what Converse calls "one of our more prolific teachers," holding classes in both technology and art.

"I was at Ziggi's Coffee (downtown) and I happened to look across the street and see their sign over there and I went and investigated," Poepping said.

Poepping, who works in information technology at Xilinx, said he logged on to MeetUp.com to see when the next open meeting would be, and that was on a Sunday night. He soon became a member and started attending Tuesday nights' members-only meetings.

"I'm interested in 3D printing and laser cutting," Poepping said. "It's like $2,000 to buy a 3D printer and it's $50 a month to come here. And I get to use the 3D printer and the laser cutter."

He said members are encouraged to teach others subjects they have expertise in. Sometimes the classes are free and sometimes there's a cost, but there's always a discount for members.

During one Tuesday night meeting there was a discussion of how to get more children involved in TinkerMill and someone suggested doing a "Coderdojo," which is an international program that seeks to get more kid interested in learning to write computer code. Poepping suggested offering such a class for adults.

That's kind of one of my pet peeves, going through life, is that there's always stuff for kids to do," Poepping said. "There's not enough stuff for adults."

The the art classes simply came along because that's been a hobby of his for years, he said.

"I just started one last week, which is a drawing class," Poepping said. "We have a still life set up and people just come in and draw and they can ask questions."

Poepping said that anyone that feels they have something to share is welcome to join TinkerMill and teach a class. MeetUp.com is the place to go.

"Everything is set up on meetup.com," Poepping said. "If you have an idea you set it up on meetup and see if anyone joins you."

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